While portions of disclosure herein contain material subject to copyright protection, the copyright owner does not object to the facsimile reproduction of such material as it appears in the files of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The invention relates to card game monitoring and display devices and systems, and more particularly to a system including a shoe to hold game cards that enables card values to be identified by an integral scanner as the cards are dealt one-by-one from the shoe when the game rules permit withdrawing a card from the shoe. Resulting information is coupled to an associated computer system and software that can control a mechanical barrier to prevent removal of a card from the shoe when it would be contrary to game rules. Further, the invention can limit the number of cards dispensed per game rules, and can provide card delivery information, player and dealer game information and player statistic information, and that permits remote bettors to wage on the card game using a transmission communication medium that can include the internet. The card game is played on a table that includes dealer-input devices and display devices to help expedite game play and provide the dealer with data relevant to the players and to the likelihood of any cheating.
Card dispensing shoes for dealing or delivering cards in casino card games are known in the art. Without limitation, such card games of chance include 21 or Blackjack, Baccarat, Carribean Stud, Let It Ride, and Poker. The shoe is placed near a dealer""s station on a card game table, and at least one deck of cards is placed in an opening at the shoe top during the play of a particular card game. Cards are placed face down in the shoe, and only the back side of the top card in the deck is observable while the cards are in the shoe. The dealer feeds cards for delivery to players at the table by manually engaging and forcing the top card of the deck through a card outlet at the front of the shoe. The dealer pulls the top card from the deck and it is delivered or dealt to a game player or game hand. A series of cards is thus delivered, one-by-one, to the players at the card game table until each player or game hand has the requisite number of cards for playing the game. The shoe remains in view of the dealer and game players, and, absent cheating, neither dealer nor any player is aware of any of the cards value.
Cards for Carribean Stud and Let it Ride are normally dealt from an automatic shuffler or card dispenser (a electronic/mechanical device that physically resembles standard type manual card dispensing shoes). The cards are dealt one-by-one until the requisite number of cards for a game hand are dealt into a tray or receptacle adjacent the mouth of the automatic shuffler or card dispenser. The dealer then removes each game hand from the receptacle and delivers cards in a sequence per game rules to game player(s) and to the dealer, as the player""s or the dealer""s game hand for the current game round.
Card dispensing shoes for Baccarat differ somewhat in that Baccarat shoes have a removable fitted cover. The cover protects cards in the card chute from access by the game player(s), or by the game-designated banker, presently in possession of the shoe. Such shoes contain and secure the game deck before removal and delivery of cards comprising the player hand and bank hand, for each game round dealt.
Baccarat is vulnerable to cheating in that many people may come in contact with the playing cards. During Mini-Baccarat, the dealer acts as Banker and players normally do not touch the cards. But in traditional Baccarat, the game player dealing the Player and Bank hands from the shoe for a game round is designated as the Banker. During the game, other game players and the dealer(s) also handle the cards comprising the dealt Player and Bank hands, and thus the game is vulnerable to various forms of cheating by players and unscrupulous casino employees. Prior art shoes do not, for example, provide a mechanical block to preclude removing cards from a shoe during times that the rules of the game being played do not allow card removal. A skillful person able to handle the shoe may be able to slightly slide the top card out of the shoe sufficiently to determine suit or value, and then quickly return the card into the shoe, without being observed by others at the game table. A player""s a priori knowledge of what the top card (not yet dealt) will be can provide a statistical advantage in placing a large bet.
The high betting limits associated with Baccarat games attracts professional card cheats and can tempt unscrupulous players and employees to cheat. Casinos lose tens of millions of dollars annually due to individual cheaters or teams of co-conspirators. Known methods of cheating in Baccarat include the Banker inadvertently or surreptitiously exposing the top card of the deck to be dealt the Player hand first card as the first of two cards that will comprise the original Player hand before final wagers have been made by the game players for an upcoming game round. This advance knowledge will permit a player to wager statically relatively confidently since the value of the top card is illicitly known. Cheat methods also include the Banker and/or game players switching cards dealt from the shoe designated, per game rules, for delivery to the Player hand, for cards designated for delivery to the Bank hand, and visa versa. Cheat methods also include switching cards derived from a source other than the shoe for cards designated for delivery to the Player and/or Bank hands. These illicit activities can allow the Banker and/or confederates to place very high wagers, based upon their prior knowledge of the value of the cards switched or the cards to be dealt to the Player and/or Bank hands from the shoe.
Yet other cheating methods include the Banker covertly altering the delivery sequence of the cards dealt from the shoe. For example, the first card dealt from the shoe, contrary to game rules, is xe2x80x9cmisdealtxe2x80x9d to the Banker instead of the Player hand. This action allows players with knowledge of the xe2x80x9cmisdealxe2x80x9d to make extremely high wagers without risk of actual loss. This is because casino Baccarat games are routinely video tape recorded and stored for typically at least five days. Thus, a player, with knowledge of xe2x80x9cmisdealxe2x80x9d whose bets turned out badly will challenge the dealer for a misdeal, and will demand that the video tapes be consulted to resolve the issue. Once the video tapes confirm the misdeal, the subsequent bets would be set aside. If necessary, a losing player can ask the Nevada Gaming Control Board to investigate and after confirming the misdeal, order reimbursement of all losses. Of course had the bets turned out favorably, the player(s) would never challenged the xe2x80x9cmisdealxe2x80x9d.
Yet another Baccarat cheating scheme involves illicitly gaining prior knowledge of the top card of the deck to be dealt to the Player, or of the value of yet unexposed card(s) comprising the Player or Bank hands. Should opportunity or distraction (perhaps created by a cohort) permit, a cheating player may stealthily change or move his/her wager to from Player to Bank, or vice versa. In other cheating schemes, unscrupulous employees cooperate with players and steal new and unopened decks of cards from a casino""s card inventory, open and illicitly mark the backs of the stolen decks of cards, and then reseal the marked decks, which are returned to the casino""s Baccarat card inventory. When eventually the marked cards are brought into play, the employee notifies the co-conspirators who enter into the game play, with a secret ability to read the values on the marked cards, including an ability to read what the first card to be dealt to the Player hand will be.
Using a randomly shuffled Baccarat deck that comprises eight standard fifty-two-card decks of playing cards, a Baccarat player theoretically is expected to win 44.62% of wagers bet on the Player Hands, 45.85% of wagers bet on the Bank Hands, and 9.53% of wagers bet on the Tie Hands. The Player hand has an advantage when the first card dealt to it has card value 6, 7, 8, or 9. When the first card dealt to the Player hand has a game card value of 1 (the Ace), 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10, (Jacks, Queens and Kings each have a game card value of 10), the Bank hand has an advantage. In each game round there is an overall probability of approximately 9.50% that the Player and Bank hands will Tie. The probability of a Tie hand is greatest when the first card dealt to the Player hand is a 7, and a Tie hand is least probable when the first card dealt to the Player hand is a 10 valued card, etc.
It will be thus appreciated that if a Baccarat game player somehow gains knowledge of the value of the first game card to be dealt from the shoe before that card is removed from the shoe and delivered to the Player hand, that player can have a significant game advantage. For example, if it is known the first card will be a 6, 7, 8, 9, a high bet would be placed for the Player hand. If it is known the first card will be an ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 10-value, a high bet would be place for the Bank hand. If it is known the first card will be a 7, a high bet would be placed on the Player hand and/or a Tie bet may be made. Since very substantial wagering often occurs in Baccarat, secret knowledge of the first game card to be dealt is a powerful tool indeed.
Thus, there is a need for provide a host casino with a shoe system that can provide a realtime mechanism for identifying and recording, preferably with 100% accuracy, the card value, card rank, card suit, and sequence in which each card removed from the shoe was delivered to the Player or Bank hands. Further, such shoe system should provide a mechanism to track the wager type (Tie, Player, and/or Bank), and amount per wager made by each Baccarat player. Such shoe system would enable the casino to identify in real time most cheating methods, and to calculate the probability that a Baccarat game player has prior knowledge of the top card of the deck before that card was removed from the shoe. In addition, such shoe system could reduce Banker errors and resultant game disruptions and casino income loss, and could also provide the casino with a more accurate mechanism to calculate commissions payable to the casino on all winning Bank wagers, and could also provide more accurate rating information for Baccarat game players. Such information would allow a casino to more precisely calculate its Earning Potential and Complimentary Equivalency for each game player, and to further speed up the progress of the game, which in the long run will increase casino profits.
There is a need for a shoe that can mechanically bar removal of cards during periods when the rules of the game being played prohibit card removal. Such a shoe could more securely protect the host casino against dealer error and card cheats, while speeding up game play. In Baccarat, such a shoe would guard against errors and cheating with respect to the first card dealt to a player hand, and with respect to the first card advantage associated with that game.
Prior art shoes, automatic card shuffler(s), and card dispensing devices can adequately deliver cards one-by-one to the game players and/or the game dealer, or to a tray or receptacle, but there is room for improvement, especially in a high stake game such as Baccarat. Such shoes do little or nothing to guard against cheating, including recognizing illicit markings on the game cards that can enable identification of the value of the top card(s) in the deck to be dealt from the shoe before placing a wager on the outcome of upcoming game round(s). A player somehow able to read or decipher the value of a card that has been illicitly marked, or who somehow knows what card is next in the shoe and is about to be dispensed can gain valuable statistical knowledge. Using this advance information, such player will know when to wager a large bet on the Player or on the Bank hand, depending upon the player""s unique and illicit knowledge of the first card about to be dealt from the shoe and delivered to the Player hand. (The terms xe2x80x9cBankxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cHousexe2x80x9d may on occasion be referred to interchangeably herein.)
Card dispensing shoes with a scanning unit should preferably monitor and identify the value, rank, suit, and delivery sequence for each card dealt to a game seat, a game player, or a game hand that may include a game dealer, to guard against introduction of a card into a game from a source other than the deck contained in the shoe. Such shoes should ensure that cards have not been illicitly removed from the shoe and/or diverted to an unauthorized game hand by the Banker or the game Caller. Such shoes should further ensure that the cards comprising the Bank hands and Player hands, when tossed to the Caller by the Banker and/or a player have not been switched by the Banker, the Player or the Caller before the respective game hands are faced-up on the game table top layout and the game hand scores are called by the Caller. Further, such shoes should ensure that Player hand cards delivered by the Banker to the Caller are not switched by the Caller before delivery to a player designated to play the Player hand. Such shoes should ensure that the player designated to play the Player hand cannot switch Player hand cards before giving the hand back to the Caller. Thus, shoes should identify changes to the value of the game hand and to the outcome of the game round, in the event any of the original cards dealt from the shoe, regardless of whether the Banker, the Caller, or the designated game player attempts to make the switch without being detected.
There is a need for a shoe that can prevent a person in possession of the shoe) from inadvertently or intentionally removing a card from the shoe, and/or surreptitiously exposing the value of the top card to a game player(s) who may then wager on the Player or Bank hand, before commencement of the game round, based on the secret knowledge of what the top card will be. Such shoe should preclude fraudulent activities by players and/or the game dealer(s), as such activities can affect the game outcome and thus the profit margin of the casino or other gaming location hosting the game. In practice, if exposure of a game card becomes know to the gaming casino management, the card is removed from play (burned) or placed in the discard rack, thus altering the sequence of cards comprising game hands for subsequent game rounds dealt from deck(s) contained in the shoe. Such removal of a game card from play can bring concern and anguish among game players and management alike, because of the high bets that may be waged on the outcome of the game round now affected due to the removal of the exposed card. A player who feels feel victimized by the circumstances surrounding the exposed card may leave the game, never to return to the host casino.
Thus, there is a need to reduce dealing errors by mechanically blocking the removal of a top card from a shoe during times that rules for the card game being played do not call for the removal or exposure of a card contained in the shoe. Such a mechanical block would preclude cheating by persons skilled in rapidly sliding the top card out of the shoe sufficiently to quickly turn up a corner of the card to learn the card suite or value or both.
Further, there is need for improved display mechanisms for use during the game of Baccarat, especially if it is desired to electronically record individual and cumulative wager types, e.g., Tie, Player or Bank, and/or individual and cumulative bet amounts. Prior art mechanisms are relatively primitive, labor intensive and inaccurate with respect to maintaining a record of each player""bets, wins, losses, for each game round for the duration of each customer""s play. There is a need for a mechanism to implement such record keeping and to display results, especially for the dealer""s and management""s use. Such mechanism could enhance accuracy and speed of posting of commissions collected or owed on winning Bank hands, preferably while increasing the security of the game without forfeiting the number of rounds-dealt-per-hour. Further, there is a need for such mechanism to also record and track pertinent data relevant to rating a customer""s play for purposes that include rapidly and accurately determining a casino""s earning potential and complimentary equivalency for each game player during real time.
Because of the high betting limits, Baccarat game players tend to receive a relatively high percentage of all complimentary expenditures extended by host casinos. But as noted, it is difficult in the prior art to always guard against cheating in Baccarat. Therefore, a need exists to provide casinos, during real time, with an improved means of recording player rating information, and a real time means to identify most methods of cheating or defrauding the casino card game of Baccarat. Further, there is a need to provide tables on which card games of chance are played with data input mechanisms to permit a dealer to input data relative to the play of the game and the game players, and for display mechanisms to allow the dealer to see game statistics on a per hand and per player basis, and to permit the dealer and management to observe trends suggesting on-going cheating during the play of the game. Further, there is a need to provide remote display mechanisms to allow game supervisors to see game statistics on a per hand and per player and per dealer, and per game table basis, and to permit the game supervisor to observe trends in the play of the game suggesting that one or more game players may be engaged in activities that threaten the assets of the game, and individual player rating information for each game player.
As noted, improved shoe systems can make card games of chance less prone to cheating and to error, and more efficient to play, especially from the casino""s standpoint. But there is a need for a mechanism that allows more than a handful of spectators to wager on the outcome of such card games. More specifically, there is also a need for a mechanism by which card games of chance played with improved card shoes and card shoe systems can be broadcast widely over a distribution medium such as the internet such that spectators can view and wager upon the game in real time, precisely as though they were in the casino standing near the actual player participants. Such medium-wide play can further enhance the casino""s revenues and can be implemented to provide substantially real time payoffs, be it to the remote viewer bettor, or to the casino.
The present invention provides such improved game shoes, game shoe systems, game play tables, and a system permitting internet-transmittable transmission of card games of chance played with such shoes and shoe systems, to enable remote viewers to see the game and the scanner output image of each card dealt from the shoe, and to wage bets remotely.
The present invention provides an improved card dealing shoe apparatus, card game tables, methods, and systems to deliver and track playing cards dispensed from card decks retained in the shoe, and a system to enable remotely located persons to view a card game of chance played using the shoe and to wage bets thereon, for example via the internet. The shoe includes a scanner to scan value, rank, and suit of each card dispensed from the shoe. A CPU system associated with the shoe is coupled to the scanner output and records the sequence in which each card was removed from the shoe, one-by-one, whether by a dealer, by a game designated Banker in Baccarat. The CPU system can record who received each card taken out of the shoe. A display system mounted on the shoe, and/or embedded or associated with the game table, or even remotely located, can be used to present some or all of this information, including game hand scores per game hand, as well as the sequence in which each card removed from the shoe was designated for delivery according to relevant game rules. Such display can speed game play, and enable host casino dealers and staff in monitoring game status, including winning, losing, and tie hands for each game round to minimize error and cheating, and thus protect and preserve the game integrity. The data gathered and displayed can permit real time identification of game hands that have been corrupted by diverting or switching a game card during the card delivery process, and can alert the dealer and host casino as to patterns suggesting a player is cheating. The present invention affords the game dealer an unobstructed view of the game table as well as a view of electronic displays showing bets made by each player, among other player data. Further, the dealer can visually compare display information versus actual cards and bets on the gaming table to help identify cards that may have been switched, or diverted, and can also cross-check that game scores or results from a hand have not been altered as a result of such diversions.
In one embodiment, the shoe includes at least one barrier to mechanically cover and block removal of a top card or even a portion of a top card in the shoe during times that rules for the game being played do not allow a card to be dispensed from the shoe. In Baccarat, for example, such a time would be while bets are being made prior to exposing the top card. The shoe includes an input mechanism such as a keyboard key allowing the dealer to initialize the shoe, for example while bets are made before a first card is dealt. Software executed by the CPU in the shoe is pre-programmed with applicable game rules and will cause the barrier to move to mechanically obstruct and block a card from being taken out of the shoe at this time. As such, not even a skilled manipulator can expose the underside of the top card to try to learn the suit or value of the card. After all bets are placed, the game rules permit dispensing at least one card from the shoe. The dealer can now press an alpha-numeric keyboard key or other mechanism on the shoe (or electronically coupleable to the shoe) to advise that a card may now be dispensed and scanned, per game rules. As such, the CPU will now cause the barrier to move to mechanically unblock the shoe card outlet slot, to permit withdrawing at least one card from the shoe. Data from the shoe scanner can advise the software when the last card for the current game round has been dealt, whereupon the CPU will command the barrier mechanism to again obstruct and block access to cards in the shoe, to prevent removal (or even slight exposure) of additional cards, contrary to game rules. Using an keyboard key or the like, the dealer can again signal the CPU to unlock the barrier to permit removal of cards from the housing for the next game round. This embodiment can protect the host casino against loss due to error or cheating, especially with respect to the first card dealt to a player hand, and with respect to the first card advantage. Further, this embodiment can prevent error in delivering game cards from the shoe, and can prevent accidental or intentional removal and/or exposure of any games cards from the shoe in violation of game rules. Further, this embodiment can relieve game dealers and game supervisors from some supervisory tasks associated with ensuring game security and integrity, enabling these individuals to perform tasks associated with evaluating earning potential and complimentary equivalency or value of each game player. This embodiment can promote better customer-play relations and service, and will expedite game play.
In another embodiment, the shoe and/or game table includes an input device (e.g., a keyboard) enabling the game dealer(s) to input and identify wager types, e.g., Player, Bank, or Tie for Baccarat, made by each game player during each game round. The invention includes software, executable by a CPU in the shoe that can compare wager types made by each player to the value of the first or top card dealt from the shoe and received by the Player hand, and can calculate, identity, and display associated game advantage or disadvantage for each player""s bets made during the game. Such software analysis relative to the actual value of the first card dealt can discern whether a pattern suggests prior knowledge by a player of what the first card was, before it was dealt, e.g., that cheating is occurring. Such keyboard can be used by the dealer to release the barrier and to reset system sensors and displays (embedded in the game table or elsewhere) upon completion of settlement for a game round. At least one sensor can be installed beneath the game table layout, beneath each seat""s designated Player, Bank or Tie betting boxes. Such indicators can automate identification and recording of wager types made by each game player during each game round. A bet indicator light embedded in the game table can be activated when a wager is placed in the wager betting box associated with each player""s seat or location at the table. Associated sensors can detect whether a bet is placed, what type of bet (e.g., where physically the token or other evidence of the bet is placed), to automatically input information to the CPU and software associated with the shoe. An activated light sensor will be deactivated when a bet is removed from the betting box, as monitored by an associated sensor before removal of the first card of a game round from the card dispensing shoe. If the casino Baccarat game table does not have embedded sensors, input keys in the shoe or on game table keyboards will be used by the dealer to manually input such information.
In another embodiment, the software and CPU coupled to the shoe and scanner can provide the host casino whereat games are played with a real time identification record of play time-out, total-time-played, buy-in, credit transactions, chips-to-table, chips-removed-from-table, minimum bet, maximum bet, total bets, average bets, and/or the precise amount of all types of Baccarat wagers, individually and cumulatively, made by each game player. Further additional records can include selected types of player rating information for each game player during game play relative to use of a casino""s theoretical win to calculate each player""s theoretical earning potential and complimentary equivalency.
The shoe and scanner and CPU executable software can calculate each game player""s true worth, or potential and complimentary equivalency by using selected player rating information and specific game advantage or disadvantage a game player achieves. CPU analysis of records of player bet amounts and types (Tie, and/or Player and Bank hands), during Baccarat can show a pattern evidencing cheating, e.g., illicit prior knowledge of what the top card will be before it is dealt. Some embodiments include calculation and electronic displaying of commission(s) due the casino from each Baccarat player, for example using LED or LCD displays on the shoe or embedded in the game table, or even located remotely. Unpaid commissions can more readily be identified as well as the player owing the commission, which information can expedite collection and/or write-off of monies owed to the casino. Displayed information can also show detected (illegal) change in the bet amounts or the type of bets made by each player before the first card of a game round is dealt from the shoe. Such detection and display can be made in real time before settlement of bets for a game round is made. In this embodiment, automatic recording or deal manual inputting of bet types and amounts per player is made before delivery of the first card from the shoe for each game round. A discrepancy between what the display shows per player and what is physically on the casino game table can be self-evident.
In another embodiment, the host casino can issue players a player tracking card (PTC) upon which the casino can store magnetically or otherwise information relative to the player. The shoe housing includes a magnetic stripe reader and/or smart card reader able to read a PTC inserted by the dealer. Data stored on a PTC can include unique player identification and casino account number, a relative ranking or rating value in terms of gaming skill, a measure of waging history (e.g., larger bettor, small bettor). A PTC more rapidly enables the host casino to identify players who merit complimentary treatment as they may represent more potential revenue to the casino. An embodiment can identify active seats at a game table occupied by a player with and without a PTC. Alpha-numeric data input devices on the shoe housing or on the gaming table allow the dealer to manually input data for a player lacking a PTC, which data can be processed and stored by the shoe CPU system. The CPU system can terminate a player""s account at a table when a PTC identified player, or an unknown player, leaves an active seat at the table. Data from the PTC file, or a date/time file can be communicated electronically to remote systems in or associated with the host casino for more extensive analysis, including analysis for potential cheating, as well as to dynamically augment the player""s file within the casino system.
The various embodiments of the present invention expedite game play and game integrity and can thus encourage betting by players and others. In one embodiment, a video camera records game play, showing the shoe, cards dispensed, and at least the dealer""s hands. This video signal preferably is coupled with a video image output from the shoe scanner and is promulgated through at least one medium, e.g., the internet, to remotely located bettors. The bettors can register with the host casino and place bets on the game in progress, e.g., via a medium such as the internet. Using a computer monitor or TV display, the remote bettors will see the actual image of the game table with shoe, cards dispensed from the shoe, and the dealer""s hands, as well as an image of each scanned card. Wagers from the remote bettors preferably are reconciled within seconds of each game play by a server-type computer system coupled to the game shoe system.
Finally, one embodiment of the present invention permits remote bettors to wage on the outcome of the card games played in a host casino using a shoe, preferable equipped with a mechanical barrier. The use of the present invention is inviting to remote bettors in that game play is expedited and cheating by the dealer and/or actual game players is less likely by virtue of the invention. In a preferred embodiment, remote bettors receive data from the actual game via a medium that can include transmission via the internet, via wireless, via fiber optics, via telephone lines, and can communicate their identification and bets via a like, but not necessarily identical, medium. The data communicated to remote bettors preferably includes video data of the game in play as well as card images from the scanner associated in the shoe used during game play.
Other features and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description in which the preferred embodiments have been set forth in detail, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.